Olmstead at Twenty, Awards Presentations

Streaming Media

Document Type

Video

Date

Summer 8-9-2019

Abstract

Session Description: The Susan C. Jamieson Olmstead Trailblazer Award - Susan C. Jamieson is the founder of Atlanta Legal Aid’s Disability Integration Project and was the lead counsel in Olmstead v. L.C. and E.W. Her steadfast commitment to her clients and to the right of all people with disabilities to live their lives in the community helped shape the transformation of community disability services in Georgia and the nation. Presenter: Steve Gottlieb, Executive Director, Atlanta Legal Aid Society; Recipient: Talley Wells, Executive Director, Georgia Appleseed Center for Law & Justice The Lois Curtis and Elaine Wilson Olmstead Advocate Award - Lois Curtis and Elaine Wilson were the plaintiffs in Olmstead v. L.C. and E.W. Both women spent many years unnecessarily institutionalized in Georgia’s state hospitals and contacted Sue Jamieson of Atlanta Legal Aid for help. Their fight for their own right to live in the community instead of institutions helped make community integration a right for all people with disabilities. Presenter: Shelly Simmons, Executive Director, Statewide Independent Living Council of Georgia Recipient: Mark Johnson, Retired, Former Director of Advocacy, The Shepherd Center Conference Description: 2019 marked the 20th anniversary of Olmstead v. L.C. and E.W., the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision hailed as the Brown v. Board of Education for people with disabilities. In Olmstead, the Court held that unjustified institutional isolation of people with disabilities is a form of unlawful discrimination under Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Now, 20 years later, thousands of people have benefited from the decision, as many states have increased funding for community services, but has the promise of Olmstead been realized for all? At the premiere legal Olmstead anniversary event, symposium speakers explored the history of this groundbreaking civil rights decision, assessed the current state of compliance, and imagined a path forward, where all people with disabilities have access to the supports they need to live full and meaningful lives in the community.

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